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December 24, 2023

The George Clooney Retrospective Kicks Off Today

John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou? © 2000 Touchstone Pictures.

I decided to kick off something of a George Clooney retrospective with The Boys in the Boat opening in theaters this week. The plan was ideally to focus on the films that the Kentucky native directed. However, I can’t not watch his films with the Coen brothers! Despite watching Hail, Caesar! a few times, it does not appear that I’ve actually reviewed it. The film came out in 2016 so yeah, that makes sense. It’s only available through YouTube/YouTube TV at no extra cost.

I want to say this before going further: I am so tired of having to unfriend and unfollow people because of their Jew-hatred. A lot of what we’ve seen, at least from white people, is performative outrage. The fact that they don’t seem to be outraged about Syria, Sudan, and elsewhere really shows that they don’t care unless Jews are somehow involved. Moreover, chanting for an intifada in a Jewish neighborhood—as what just happened in LA on Shabbos afternoon—just screams Jew-hatred. These protests end up causing more Jew-hatred and it needs to stop. Take things out on Hamas because they are the reason why the war is happening. Hamas could end this war right now if they just laid down their arms, surrendered, and released the hostages.

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The last time that I did any kind of a Clooney retrospective was for his birthday in May 2020. That was back when we were living in lockdown and many studio films were massively delayed. I had to pivot to home video and streaming. I still have the Ocean’s trilogy to watch and review since I haven’t covered those yet. I was going to review Ocean’s Eleven back in 2021 for the 20th anniversary but I wasn’t feeling well at the time. There are a few titles that I’m just waiting for the library to place on the hold shelf. The titles that I am still waiting on will not be arriving until Tuesday at the earliest.

Meanwhile, I don’t know what I’m doing on December 25. I may just end up watching films from home or depression sleeping. With the lesser freelance work and outlets still behind in payments, the budget shortfall is honestly worse than ever before. There’s a number in mind and I’m still not there yet. I also realize that there are people not comfortable handing over money to Substack. I get it—platforms should not have any room for hate speech. That’s why I’ve also been pushing my tip jar on social media for people to show their support that way, much to no avail. I’m otherwise finishing the year on a complete spending freeze so going out to the movies or eating kosher Chinese food at a restaurant on the 25th is just not happening. It only makes the annual end-of-year depression much worse.

I had to unfriend a film colleague this week and surprisingly not because of rhetoric about the war. No, it was because they had to be an absolute jerk after I was very open about how loneliness and boredom only exacerbates depression during this time of year. I skipped a screening on Wednesday night because 3D gives me a headache and the fact that it was the end of the DCU did not give me any incentive in leaving my apartment whatsoever. It costs absolutely nothing to be nice especially when you don’t know what other people are going through. I’m very open about being depressed at the end of the year as I lost the option of going home because of coming out as trans. There’s not an accepting Orthodox shul back home and I’m not leaving Orthodox Judaism.

Here is everything that has gone online since December 5:

Film Reviews:

  • Napoleon

  • Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie

  • Round and Round

  • Frozen

  • The Boys in the Boat

  • Mad City

  • There’s Something About Mary

  • Anyone But You

  • American Fiction

  • O Brother, Where Art Thou?

  • Intolerable Cruelty

TV Reviews:

  • Norman Lear: A Life on Television

  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians

  • Disney 100 - A Century of Dreams

  • Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic

  • What If…? - Season 2

Home Entertainment Releases:

  • Titanic

  • A Disturbance in the Force

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

  • Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

  • James Cameron Films

  • Face/Off

Interviews

  • Robert Richardson - Air

  • Victoria Boydell - Saltburn

Awards Season:

  • Critics Choice Awards TV Nominations

  • AFI Awards 2023 Honorees

  • The Solzy Awards for Film in 2023

  • Critics Choice Awards Film Nominations

  • Barbara Streisand - SAG Life Achievement Award

  • 96th Academy Awards Shortlists

News:

  • Norman Lear Dead at 101

  • Max, A24 Ink Pay-1 Output Agreement

  • 2024 Sundance Film Festival Initial Lineup

  • National Film Registry Selects 25 Films

  • Columbia Pictures 100

  • Paramount, Warner Bros. in Merger Talks

Op-Ed:

  • SNL Sketch on Campus Jew-Hatred Is Not Funny

  • Worst Films of 2023 And Why You Won’t Find Them

Streaming—Coming and Leaving

  • Netflix

  • Peacock

  • Hulu

  • Max

  • Prime Video/Amazon Freevee

  • Paramount+

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